Hayao Tada

Hayao Tada (24 February 1882-16 December 1948) was a General of the Imperial Japanese Army who served as commander of the North China Area Army from 12 September 1939 to 7 July 1941, succeeding Hajime Sugiyama and preceding Yasuji Okamura.

Biography
Hayao Tada was born on 24 February 1882 in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1903 and served in the artillery during the Russo-Japanese War, rising in the ranks during the Interwar Years. From 1932 to 1934, he served as the chief military adviser to Emperor Puyi of Manchukuo, and he commanded the China Garrison Army from 1 August 1935 to 1 May 1936.

On 14 August 1937, he was recalled to Japan to become Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, and he was berated by the government for attempting to defuse tensions with Chiang Kai-shek by telling him that both Japan and China had to worry about communist threats inside their countries and the Soviet Union outside of their countries. On 10 December 1938, Tada was sent to China to lead the Japanese Third Army, and he became the commander-in-chief of the North China Area Army on 12 September 1939. In September 1941, he retired with the rank of General, and he died in prison while awaiting trial for war crimes in 1948; a week after his death, it was revealed that no charges were to be held against him.